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2021 DMAW Hall of Leaders Recipient

Roger Hiyama
Executive Vice President, Solutions & Innovation
Wiland

In December 2021, the DMAW community came together in person for the first time in almost two years to award the venerable Hall of Leaders Award, which this year went to Roger Hiyama, Executive Vice President, Solutions & Innovations of Wiland. 

To be recognized, the nominees for the Hall of Leaders award are voted on by previous winners and approved by the DMAW Board, making it truly a peer recognition award. There are four specific criteria for the Award:

  • Notable professional achievements
  • Dedication to DMAW demonstrated by intense involvement and participation
  • Furthering the knowledge and careers of others
  • National recognition or contributions to other organizations in the industry

And, as you can see, these criteria reflect a lifelong commitment to making a difference in our community and our industry.  This lifelong commitment is exemplified in Roger Hiyama.

Thirty-nine years ago, Roger Hiyama began his illustrious career joining Wiland & Associates for the first time – and this experience began to shape and hone his expertise in the world of database management, marketing, and advanced analytics.

Roger focused on serving the nonprofit sector at many companies including, Saturn Corporation, Shop2u, Merkle, Barton Cotton, Russ Reid, SCA Direct and Moore DM Group.

A dedicated volunteer with many industry organizations, Roger describes his volunteer commitment by saying “throughout my life I’ve always believed that my extra-curricular work have been some of the most rewarding experiences! I’ve always tried to become more engaged and volunteer my time to help promote our industry and profession.”

Roger’s extensive involvement in DMAW throughout his career is one of the reasons he received the Hall of Leaders Award. Roger served on the Bridge Conference Steering Committee after serving as Track Dean in 2015 and on the Education Committee in 2017. He has also been a frequent DMAW speaker, and in 2015, Roger was awarded DMAW Volunteer of the Year.

Since 2016, Roger has actively served on the DMAW Board, highlights include spearheading Young Professional initiatives and developing critical policy for DMAW. In 2020, as DMAW President, Roger led the organization through the onset of the Pandemic, helping DMAW navigate the turbulent waters while continuing to effectively serve our industry.

According to Donna Tschiffely, Executive Director of DMAW, “There are a lot of negative words that we use to describe 2020. What I take great comfort in is that I can use a lot of positive words to describe DMAW’s 2020 president, Roger Hiyama, words such as collaborative, insightful, steady, thoughtful, influential, trustworthy, and determined. Together, Roger and I faced the challenges brought about by COVID and he led the board with a steady hand to ensure DMAW continued to serve its membership. It would have been so easy for Roger to say, “I’m a volunteer and have my own professional and personal issues to deal with during this chaotic time.” But he didn’t. In fact, Roger made himself available even more. A true leader leads sacrificially – that’s what Roger Hiyama did.”

On behalf of everyone at DMAW, Congratulations again, Roger!